Strategic Report
Financial Statements
Governance
109
As set out earlier in the Annual Report, in 2024 the Group has delivered sustainable growth, helped more of our customers, and significantly increased value for our shareholders. 2024 has been a year of record growth, continued efficient delivery and strong strategic execution for the Group, which has resulted in a strong balance sheet and the Group exceeding the profit growth pledge made by more than doubling underlying operating profit two years earlier than planned. We have delivered underlying operating profit growth of 34%, with Defined Benefit Sales up 57% and Retail Business Sales up 16%. During 2024 we completed 129 DB transactions, which was a record year for any company in the history of the DB market, including the completion of a £1.8bn deal which was a new record for the Group; whilst our retail business continues to deliver strong growth through the attractiveness of the guaranteed income proposition to our customers. Our business success has remained underpinned by our purpose of helping people achieve a better later life. We have also continued to deliver on our commitments to our planet and our people, with a reduction of 8% in emissions from our investment portfolio and an increase to our colleague engagement scores of 8.3. This strong performance has been reflected with the returns to shareholders, with a total shareholder return over 2024 being 87.6% and a total shareholder return over the last three years being 79.3%, significantly above the FTSE 250 index total shareholder return over the same periods. Alongside the good progress being made on the financial business priorities, the Group has continued to build strong engagement levels as reported in the colleagues and culture section page 57, and positive progress on building a diverse and inclusive workforce. In addition, we have received well-deserved external recognition for products and service to customers (see page 3 for details). 2024 REMUNERATION OUTCOMES SHORT TERM INCENTIVE PLAN The Board approved a challenging business plan for 2024, against which David Richardson and his team have delivered a strong set of results. Following very strong performance against the STIP measures of IFRS New Business Profit, Underlying Operating Profit and New Business Strain, and good progress on a number of customer and people initiatives such as successfully embedding Consumer Duty, improving gender diversity at senior grades, and employee satisfaction scores which were above expectations set at the start of the year, the overall Group bonus outturn is 100% of maximum. This creates the overall pool from which payments are made with individual allocations based on personal performance. For performance in 2024 the Committee approved awards for David Richardson at 90% and Mark Godson at 90% of maximum. These payments reflect their strong personal performance, the delivery of robust financial results, and the significant shareholder returns over the period. The Committee considered the outturn in the context of wider Group performance detailed above, the shareholder experience and the wider stakeholder experience and determined that no discretion would be applied. In line with the policy, 60% of the Executive Directors’ STIP will be paid in cash and 40% will be deferred into Just Group shares for three years under the Deferred Share Bonus Plan (“DSBP”).
Composition
MEMBERS Michelle Cracknell
Chair
Jim Brown
Independent Non-Executive Director
John Hastings-Bass
Chair of the Board
Mary Phibbs
Senior Independent Director
There has been no change in membership during the year. Committee meeting attendance can be found on P83 . Biographies of Committee members can be found on P72-74 .
GENDER DIVERSITY
05 March 2025 Male
2 2
Female
31 December 2024 Male
2 2
Female
ETHNIC DIVERSITY
05 March 2025 Asian
0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 4 0
Black Mixed White Other
31 December 2024 Asian
Black Mixed White Other
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